Unsuccessful Attempt to Induce Transformation by Cerebrospinal Fluid in Cultured Lymphocytes from Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

RECENTLY, Fowler et al.1 reported that lymphocytes from patients with multiple sclerosis when cultured in vitro in the presence of cerebrospinal fluid underwent blastlike transformation. The lymphocyte response was similar to that observed in known cases of delayed hypersensitivity as in tuberculin-positive persons whose cells are cultured in the presence of tuberculin.2 Transformation occurred regardless of the stage of the disease and in the presence of cerebrospinal fluid from subjects not suffering from multiple sclerosis. The authors suggested that, in the absence of any universally accepted diagnostic test for multiple sclerosis, lymphocyte transformation may prove the most reliable laboratory procedure . . .